More than 40 monkeys on the loose in US city after escaping from laboratory | News about wildlife

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The police describe refugees who do not carry disease as ‘harmless and a little crooked’, who are ‘almost no danger to the public’.

More than 40 monkeys escaped from a research laboratory in a small US town after an employee failed to close an enclosure properly.

The 43 rhesus macaques escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee, South Carolina, on Wednesday, according to a police statement issued the following day.

Police said the monkeys were all female, weighing about 3 kg (6.6 pounds), too small and young to be used for testing.

“They’re not infected with any disease at all. They’re harmless and a little weird,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday, stressing that they pose “almost no danger to the public.”

Alpha Genesis set up traps and used thermal cameras to recapture the escaped monkeys. “The handlers know them well and can usually get them back with fruit or a small treat,” Alexander said.

Police urged residents of the town, which has a population of around 2,000, to keep their doors and windows “securely closed”, report any sightings immediately and refrain from approaching the monkeys “under any circumstances”.

Greg Westergaard, CEO of Alpha Genesis, which supplies primates for research around the world, told CBS News that he is “hoping for a happy ending” where the primates return of their own accord.

“It’s really like following the leader. You see one go and the others go,” he said of their escape.

However, this was not the first outbreak from the laboratory. In 2018, federal officials fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 after dozens of primates escaped. There were other escapes in 2014 and 2016, with a total of 45 monkeys escaping.

The group Stop Animal Exploitation Now sent a letter to the USDA asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility and conduct a thorough investigation.

“The blatant carelessness that allowed these 40 monkeys to escape not only endangered the safety of the animals, but also endangered the residents of South Carolina,” Michael Budkie, the group’s executive director, wrote in a letter.